Quemado Valley undergoing oil and gas boom

Nestled on the Rio Grande River in northern Maverick County is the oasis of Quemado, Texas, also known as Quemado Valley, which is undergoing an oil and gas boom in 2012-2013 with several wells drilled and hitting paydirt, causing excitement among local landowners, ranchers, and farmers in this usually quiet valley.

Oil and gas companies are scouring Quemado Valley seeking to sign oil and gas leases from real property owners and storming the Maverick County County Clerk’s Office to research the legal oil and gas mineral interests holders to offer them lucrative oil and gas leases and royalties in exchange for the right to drill on their real properties.

Some of the oil and gas wells drilled in Quemado Valley are extremely close to households and homesteads, as close as 100 to 200 feet, posing a serious danger in the event of an accident, explosion, or escaping gas and related chemicals.

Another activity occurring in Quemado Valley and in northern Maverick County are the drilling of oil and gas waste injection wells underneath the pristine valley endangering the underground aquifers and streams which provide water to the previously mostly agricultural and farming valley.

Maverick County is one of 14 oil and gas producing counties of the Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas play in South Texas. The Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas producers are utilizing the fracking drilling and exploration method which drills horizontally deep underground and then pump many chemicals mixed with sand and water into the wells followed by setting off explosives underground to loosen the oil and gas from the rock shales.

According to a University of Texas at San Antonio study, the Eagle Ford Shale has an economic impact of $61 Billion to a 20 counties region in and around the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, making it the largest oil and gas field in the United States being drilled and explored.

The Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas boom is alive and well in Maverick County, including southern Maverick County in El Indio, Texas, eastern Maverick County near La Pryor and Carrizo Springs, Texas, and now in northern Maverick County in the beautiful Quemado Valley region.